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What should you do?

I need your help on this. I recently lost a single match. The guy I played against had this weard serve: it wasn't a short serve nor a high serve. It was something in between.

His serve reached the rearcourt and was deep enough, but the height was not ok.

I'm a tall guy (about 1.9 m). When his serve reaches rearcourt the shuttle is below the 'sweetspot' on the racket at the moment I m fully stretched when hitting high forehand clear. The result is that I returned a bad clear.

Once I discoverd that hitting the clear at the rearcourt was not ok I tried to smash those bad high serves however, this was not the solution:

- costs me a lot of energy--> every serve
- his smash defence was very good.
- he returned very fast.

No it was to high to drive the shuttle. The shuttle was at his highest point about 2,5 m high.

The problem is I am to tall to play a good clear on that serve at rearcourt. And I don't want to play constantly smashes as return on his smash, because that is tiring me. What options do I still have?

I am slightly confused... How can it be too low to clear, but you can smash it if you chose to? That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. If you are able to make contact with the shuttle to play a smash, why don't you play a clear instead?

Now then, if you are unable to play a good length clear because the shuttle goes past you to quickly - i.e. you are not able to get behind the shuttle given its low trajectory, then stand 1 metre further back when he serves and watch his serve go straight into your hitting zone. What if it is still "too low" for your hitting zone? It sounds like you are receiving a low short lift... just do whatever you want with it! If you are really really struggling, then bend your knees so that you are almost crouch defending! Use a short grip and hit the shuttle from the midcourt with a sharp tapping action, rather than a full power swing. Thinking about this further, it it goes a maximum of 2.5 metres above the ground, then this IS in fact a drive serve. If can be driven back, or cleared back, or dropped back by you. Just make sure you are crouching low so that you can take the serve overhead.

Am I right in presuming that it is not high enough to go over your head? I.e. you could stand near the front and still make contact with it overhead? And if this is true, you could in theory receive this serve from the front of the midcourt. And if this is true, your clear is actually being played from the midcourt - it doesn't need to be that good! Hit it normally and it will go out, so hitting it "badly" is fine.

Ultimately, if you can smash it, you could clear it, drop it, slice it, stop drop, punch clear... anything! I reckon the problem is your ability to generate power with a short tapping action, and you rely on a large swing to generate power overhead. Just use a small action, and it will be simple.

Please feel free to clarify my understanding of the situation. It is a little difficult for me to understand!

The information that you gave me has been very useful and helps me understanding my problem.

The problem is that I'm not able to return correctly on the drive serve.

The mindset I had until now was the following:
1) If player serves high then I positioned myself at the rearcourt (mostly between 2 tramlines).
2) A forehand high clear should only be played from the rearcourt because otherwise my clear would go out at opponents side.

The mindset I need to have/ need to work to is:
1) If player serves high position yourself in function of the stroke you're going to make. If it is a power clear with large swing, this position is more to the back of the court. If you choose punch clear --> position more at the middle of court is better.
2) Clearing the shuttle after high serve can be done in 2 ways: the power clear or the punch clear.

This is where you had it right: I need to train my ability to generate power with a short tapping action. I don't alter / change the amount of power I use in hitting a clear. This is something I need to work to.